Refrigerator



Dec. 18, 1934. E. w. MIZE REFRIGERATOR Filed June 26, 1934 2Sheets-Sheet 1 II/II/I/II. 4

Zhwentor E. WMZze 17 WNW 4- Patented Dec. 18, 1934 1,984,977REFRIGERATOR Earl W. Mize, Jacksonville, Fla., assignor of onefourth toRobert W. Forbes, one-fourth to Joseph A. Fitzslmmons, and one-fourth toJoseph M. Bryant, all of Jacksonville, Fla.

Application June 26, 1934, Serial No. 732,521

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in refrigerators and hasfor an object to provide an auxiliary compartment for refrigeratorsaccessible from the exterior without opening the man compartment of therefrigerator.

Lnother object of the invention is to provide adiitional refrigeratingspace in a refrigerator, wl ich space is over and above that nowsupplied interiorly of the refrigerator cabinet, the additional spacebeing secured by forming a compartment in the massive door of therefrigerator and providing a secondary door mounted in and carried bythe main or primary door for. giving access to the compartment withinthe primary door without opening said primary door.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a refrigeratorhaving a separate compartment as above described, means for controllingthe temperature in the auxiliary compart- 20 ment.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator ofthe character described in which the communication between the auxiliarycompartment and the main-internal refrigerator space will be closedautomatically when the secondary door is opened.

With the foregoing and. other objects in view,

the invention will be more fully described-hereinafter, and will be moreparticularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or correspondingparts throughout the several v1ews,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an improved refrigerator constructedin accordance with the present invention and showing the various doorsand compartments in open position.

Figure 2 is a front elevation with parts broken away and parts shown insection of the improved door and compartment construction.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 3-3 in Figure 2.

Figures 4 and 5 are detail views taken on an enlarged scale showing themethod of mounting and removing the receptacles.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken on an enlarged scale through aslightly modified form of refrigerator and door constructionillustrating a shutter mechanism.

Figure '7 is a similar view with the door shown in the closed position.

Figure 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 8-8 in Figure .6, and

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the shutter mechanism.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 designates generally arefrigerator cabinet having the electric or other refrigerating unit 11therein and containing internal refrigerating space 12 which containsvarious shelves 13 according to a standard practice well known in thiscommercial art. 1

The refrigerator is usually closed by a rather massive door embodying inits construction considerable insulating material. It is the space ofthis door that I purpose to utilize as additional refrigerating spaceand I accordingly provide a compartment 14 in the door 15 and constructa secondary door 16 for the purpose of giving access to the compartment'14. The secondary door 16 is carried by hinges 17 which may be mountedupon the main door 15 or upon the cabinet wall. The main door 15 issupported by hinges 18 of any desired character which hinges of courseare in turn supported by the cabinet wall.

The secondary door 16 will preferably be of insulated material so as'toprevent as much as possible the dissipation of cold from the additionalspace within the compartment 14. Cold air is permitted to circulate fromthe internal refrigerating space 12 of the cabinet into the auxiliarycompartment 14 through numbers of perforations. These perforations arepreferably mounted in horizontal rows 19. Each row may contain anynumber of desired perforations.

Such perforations are shown in the drawings as being a desirable numberand as permitting I the perforations to be spaced sufliciently far apartand yet allow for the entire horizontal group to be embraced within thecut-out portion 20 of the rear wall 21 of the receptacles 22 which aremounted in any suitable number and arrangement in the auxiliarycompartment 14 for the holding of fresh vegetables or such otherfoodstuffs as it may be desired to place therein.

Referring more particularly to Figures 4 and 5, it will be seen that therear walls 21 of such trays or receptacles are provided with keyholeslots 23, such keyhole slots having their larger rounded portionslowermost to receive therein the heads 24 of rivets or other suitablefastenings mounted in the rear insulated wall 25 of the compartment 14in the door 15 in which the rows of perforations 19 are also made. Inone form of the invention shown in the drawings, the rivets 24 aremounted in horizontal line with the respective rows of perforations 19so that when the trays are being fitted to place, as indicated in Figure5, and the large openings of the keyhole slots are placed over the heads24 of the rivets, the rear wall 21 of the receptacles 22 will mask theperforations 19. However when the receptacles 22 are allowed to descendto the position indicated in Figure 4, by virtue of the elongated upperportions of the keyhole slots 23 sliding down over the shanks of therivets 24, the perforations 19 will be unmasked by the cut-out portions20 of the rear receptacle walls 21v and at the same time the heads 24will overlap the side portions of the narrow parts of the keyhole slotsthus effectually locking the receptacles in place. Thus the end portions26 of the rear walls 21 of the receptacles 22 are continued upwardly andform no part of the cut-out portions 20, whereby the narrow slottedportions of the keyhole slots 23 may reach up into the end blankportions 26 for the purpose of permitting the receptacles to descendsufiiciently far down, as indicated in Figure 4, to reveal the row ofopenings 19.

As shown more particularly in Figure 1, a side wall, or both side andrear walls of the cabinet 10, may be provided with internal compartments27 containing shelves or the like 28 on which bottled goods or othermaterial or substances may be placed and these compartments 27 may bemade to communicate with the internal cold space 12 of the refrigeratorthrough one or more or groups of openings 29. A supplemental door 30 maybe used to close such compartments and to give access to same.

Referring more particularly to Figures 6 to 9, the rows of openings 19are adapted to be opened and closed by the use of a shutter arrangementconsisting of a number of horizontal strips 31 corresponding in numberto the number of the horizontal rows of openings 19.

These strips 31 are provided with horizontal rows 32 of openings adaptedto register with the openings 19 in one position of the strips. Thestrips 31 are all connected together by a vertical bar 33 having pins 34about which engage coil springs 35. The shutter device is slidablymounted in the main door 15 or in the rear wall 25 thereof and thestrips 31 may slide on the rivets 24. The strips 31 are provided withslots 38 received slidably on the pis or rivets 24. The end walls of thehorizontally elongated slots 38 will act as stops so that when the lugs36 and 37 cooperate on the closing of the secondary door 16, theperforations will be brought into correct registry. A lug 36 projectingoutwardly at substantially right angles or other angle from the verticalbar 33 is disposed in the path of 9. lug 37 on the secondary door 16.

In the operation of this device, the springs 35 will normally projectthe bar 33 and the strips 31 forwardly to a position where theperforations 32 will be out of registry with the perforations 19. Whenthe secondary door 16 is closed, the lug 37 will encounter the lug 36and push the bar 33 and the strips 31 backwardly against the influenceof the coil springs 35 thus bringing the perforations 32 into registrywith the perforations 19. Thus during the entire time that the secondarydoor 16 is closed, cold air from the main internal refrigeratorcompartment 12 .may enter through the registry openings 32 and 19 andthus place the auxiliary compartment 14 in a cold air circuit with themain compartment.

As soon as the secondary door 16 is opened the lug 37 carried thereon iswithdrawn from the companion lug 36, thus freeing the coil springs 35which will immediately expand and shift the bar 33 and its strips 31over to a position where the perforations 32 will be shifted out ofalinement with the rows of perforations 19.

In such case the cold air from the internal compartment 12 of therefrigerator will be cut off from the auxiliary compartment 14. In otherwords during all of the interval to whichthe secondary door 16 remainsopen, no cold air'from the refrigerator may escape and dissipate ,intothe surrounding atmosphere which is always the cause of expense wheneverrefrigerator doors are opened. When such refrigerator doors are openedthe internal cold air escapes, thus inviting spoilation and creating arisein temperature such that the electrical apparatus is very frequentlyturned on to regain the lost low degree of temperature and thusadditional expense is involved in the operation of the refrigerator.When the main door of the refrigerator is opened, the valve parts 35 and33 separate, but the engagement of the parts 36 and 3'7 will hold theports 19 and 32 in open position, so that when the main refrigeratordoor 15 is restored to closed position, the springs 35 will beautomatically compressed to the condition shown in Figure 7. Thusautomatically whenever both doors are closed, the door compartment willbe placed in communication with the interior refrigerator space. Figure9 shows the relative arrangement of the valve plate 33 and the pins 34and springs 35, although such pins and springs are separate from thevalve plate 33.

The various receptacles 22 may be lifted out from time to time and whenso removed they afford conveniences in the matter of removing andreplenishing same apart from the refrigerator that are absent when suchtrays or compartments are fixtures in the refrigerator structure.

By the use of the invention, increased capacity for holding food-stuffsis afforded without sacrificing any of the insulating features of thedoor construction as the cold space of the auxiliary compartment willitself form a refrigerating space in the main door 15. Moreover, thesecondary door 16 and the rear compartment wall 25 may be insulated toprevent rapid dissipation of the cold temperature.

The openings and the means for closing same may vary in number, size,arrangement and spacing of said openings, and the means for closing theopenings may also be varied in construction and arrangement and I do notwish to be limited to the precise construction as herein shown anddescribed.

It will be obvious that various changes may be made in the construction,combination and arrangement of parts which could be used withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention and I do not mean to limit theinvention to such details except as particularly pointed out in theclaims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is:-

1. In a refrigerator having an interior refrigerating space, a main doorfor the refrigerator having an auxiliary refrigerating compartmenttherein with a rear insulating wall having perforations thereinestablishing communication between the compartment and the interiorrefrigerating space, and a secondary door for opening and closing saidcompartment independently of the opening or closing movement of saidmain door.

2. In a refrigerator having an internal refrigerating space, a main doorfor the refrigerator having an auxiliary refrigerating space thereinwith a rear insulating wall having horizontal rows of perforations,trays having cut-out portions to receive said rows of perforations,means for detachably suspending the trays with the cut-out portionsextending about said rows of perforations, and a secondary door forclosing and opening said compartment without regard to the movement ofsaid main door.

3. In a refrigerator having an internal refrigerating space, a main doorfor the refrigerator having an auxiliary refrigerating space with a rearinsulating wall having horizontal rows of perforations disposed oneabove the other, headed pins carried by said wall in substantialalignment with the horizontal rows of perforations, trays having rearwalls with cut-out portions and keyhole slots, said keyhole slotsadapted to removably and lockingly cooperate with said headed pins forholding the receptacles with the cut-out portions extending about theperforations, and a secondary door for closing said auxiliarycompartment.

4. In a refrigerator having an internal refrigerating space, a main doorfor the refrigerator having an auxiliary refrigerating space, and a rearinsulating wall having perforations therein, a secondary door forclosing the auxiliary compartment, and means for opening and closingsaid perforations.

5. In a refrigerator having an internal refrigerating space, a main doorfor the refrigerator having an internal refrigerating space therein anda rear insulating wall provided with perforations, a

" secondary door for opening and closing said auxiliary compartment, andmeans actuated by said secondary door for opening said perforations whenthe secondary door is closed, and closing the perforations when saidsecondary door is opened.

6. In a refrigerator having an internal refrigerating space, a main doorhaving an auxiliary refrigerating compartment provided with a rear wallhaving openings therethrough, a, shutter arrangement includingperforated strips slidably mounted with reference to said perforationsfor opening and closing said perforations, a bar carrying said stripguide pins on the bar, coil springs associated with the guide pins forurging the bar and strips to a position closing the perforations, asecondary door for opening and closing the auxiliary compartment, andlugs arranged between said secondary door and said bar whereby to shiftthe bar and strips to open the perforations when said secondary door isclosed.

EARL W. MIZE.

